All of us have been victims of our own indecent disposal of money at least once in our lives. Here are some waste of money examples that might sound familiar to you: spending a considerable amount of dough on cat-shaped everything, only to get bored with that campy style the day after you bought it. Buying a subscription to some magical weight loss or weight gain pill, only to figure out it is complete bull. Or, spending your hard-earned cash on luxurious clothes, only to get buyer’s remorse right after and putting said garments in your closet, never to be worn exactly because they were that expensive. That said, not all cases of waste of money come off as remorseful in the end, and we have the right proof for it. We found this epic Reddit thread where people listed all the times they wasted money only to find themselves not regretting their decision in the slightest! Whether it was a crazy sum of money to make them feel better or to make everlasting memories, these stories are not sad in the slightest!
Now, this AskReddit is no cautionary tale on spending money wisely; on the contrary - it is proof that we make money to use that money however we like, at least on some rare occasions, and only to please ourselves. And, as you’re about to see, the people in these stories did not regret in the slightest spending money on a $900 wedding cake they later had a food war with, investing in some power suits to make them look and feel gorgeous, or splashing out to make their indulgent dreams come true. After all, the carpe diem saying isn’t here for nothing, and if it weren’t true, it wouldn’t have lived until our days (okay, so now it’s YOLO or whatever the kids are calling it these days, but the concept is the same).
So, ready to read all the fun stories of people wasting money only to find they did not regret it the tiniest bit? If so, they are all just a bit further down. Once you are there, be sure to rank the submissions the way you like, and if you have such a story of your own, be sure to share it in the comments!
#1
"When my mom was diagnosed with cancer, (a year after my dad died unexpectedly... from cancer) I went to the animal aid thrift shop, bought a bunch of odd dishes, put down a drop cloth, and threw them at my house while screaming bloody murder. I don't regret one second of that temper tantrum or one dime I spent to make it happen. I eventually made a couple of beautiful mosaics out of the pieces. And my mom is 6 months cancer free."
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73points
#2
"I spent $5,000 I barely had for emergency surgery for my dying dog knowing the outcome was likely to be his death regardless. He still died. I would do it again. He was my best friend and I know I did everything humanly possible to help him."
johnnycyberpunk replied: "We pulled an old dog from the shelter so he wouldn't die there. He had a heart condition that could have been treated if caught earlier in his life. We spent a few thousand at vets and another few thousand at emergency vets to keep him stable and just get him comfortable. He got to die in our yard, in our arms, in the sunshine in springtime. Every time I see a butterfly I think of that old guy."
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72points
#3
"I went to a Renaissance Fair with my husband and some friends. It was his first time, and he’s a pretty introverted person, so while he has fun watching everyone else dress up and act all goofy and old-timey, he doesn’t really participate. When we went to buy our first beer, the wench tried to sell him on one of those big mugs that looks like it’s carved out of wood but it’s just plastic. It cost $100. Yes, you get free refills, but we were not planning on drinking $100 worth of beer that day. I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted it- he looked like a little kid at Disney World. Without thinking, I whipped out my credit card and dropped $100 on a bad plastic mug.
All day, he walked around proudly with his mug. He even took some big gulps and cheered, 'Huzzah' once or twice. This might not seem like much but for my quiet, gentle giant, it is huge. I manage the finances in our relationship and I am CONSTANTLY cracking down on wasteful spending, so I think we were both amazed I made such a dumb purchase. Four years later, we still have that mug. He gets a big grin every time he sees it and teases me about my irresponsible impulse. And every time I see it, I just think about how much I love that big galoot..."
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72points
#4
"I spent $300 on a mule. An actual living, 4-hooved, long-eared mule. We raise cattle, so a protection mule was a good excuse. But, really, I just fell in love with him. He's huge and sassy. He'll steal your hat and run away. He's got a Ninja mode where he can sneak up on you, just to breathe down your neck or startle you. He does keep the coyotes away.
However, he has proved himself priceless because he eats thistle. When we got the lease on the land for our cattle the pastures had been neglected and were in bad shape. Thistle is a spiky plant that spreads across the pasture, choking out grasses. Cows won't eat it. It's really hard to get rid of. To our surprise, the mule cleared out nearly all the thistle in a matter of months. He would eat the flowers out of the center. He saved us an enormous amount of money and labor. We were able to avoid using chemical weed killers, which we really didn't want to do. Probably the best investment in our whole cattle-raising experience."
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71points
#5
"My grandfather absolutely loves The Beatles. He listens to their music every day. He doesn't speak English, but he always tries his best to sing along. It's so endearing. I had heard that Paul McCartney was coming to town for a concert. When I checked the ticket availability, there were only a few left and they were quite pricey. Especially for me, a high school student at the time. But I was determined to get him a ticket. And I did! I decided to present the ticket to him on my birthday since the concert would be just a few days afterward. When I gave my grandfather the ticket, he had broken into tears and hugged me so hard. I had never seen him so happy. The smile didn't leave his face for the rest of the day. Leading up to the concert, he would talk to everyone about how he was going to see Paul McCartney and that he had the most thoughtful granddaughter in the world."
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65points
#6
"This is going to get buried, but: paying the adoption fee for the oldest/longest resident cat at shelters, and cat rescues. I think I am up to about 8k in adoption fees.
For a bit of background: My job allows me to travel an insane amount (usually about 200 days a year) and one of my hobbies is going to cat cafes - I've been to 56 around the world. Because I was making stupid amounts of money, on top of getting a per diem, access to catering 3 times a day, and living very frugally I had a lot of extra cash. So I would visit cat cafes which are usually partnered by rescue groups or go to local shelters. I would spend time with the cats and anonymously pay for the adoption fee of the cat who was the oldest or had been there the longest. A few times I paid for transportation arrangements for cats from high-kill shelters as well.
Also, sometimes when we would stay in hotels in tiny little towns that were clearly low-income I would leave $100 at whatever small restaurant I ate at. I always made sure to slip out before they noticed."
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62points
#7
"I got $27k, and spent it on a solo cross-country road trip that led to me moving on the complete opposite side of the country from everyone I've ever known. I was in a dark place in my head, the original plan was to find a nice place to end my story, but the trip itself helped me reconsider, so absolutely no regrets to speak of."
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60points
#8
"I’ve been a fat guy all my life. Like, really fat. Dressing comfortably was always my preference because being stylish just isn’t an option at my size. This was always a source of anxiety at any social event that required dressing up. When I realized I had 4 weddings of close friends all coming up within the year, I decided to bite the bullet and get some decent 'formal' clothes. I spent $800 on a suit jacket, $250 on two pairs of dress pants, and a little over $300 on 3 shirts and 3 silk ties that were between $70 and $100 each. I stood for all my measurements and had everything tailored to my exact specifications. Did a fitting and had a second round of alterations on the pants so they actually looked decent, even though I wore them under my gut.
People were floored when I showed up to the first wedding. I received so many compliments and actual double-takes. Being introduced to new people felt completely different. I felt impressed. Some of those weddings were the best times of my life and it was due, in no small part, to how those clothes looked and made me feel. Some of those friends have big pictures from their weddings hanging on their walls, and I don’t cringe in embarrassment when I see myself in them. Those clothes cost more than I had/have ever spent on clothing in any ten-year period, and they were worth every penny."
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52points
#9
"I bet two 50 years old dudes 200 USD each, that they wouldn't kiss each other... In a bar, in a deeply red, midwestern town.
And yes, they did it... for 60 seconds."
1000101001001010 replied: "Little did you know, they’d both been secretly waiting almost 50 years to do that."
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52points
#10
"The summer after graduating high school, I won a decent amount of money playing online poker. Since I wasn’t going off to college and all of my friends were, I decided to buy them all ridiculous going-away gifts. A carpet, mailbox, toilet seat, etc. were among the gifts.
The most expensive and ridiculous gift I bought was a massive wheel of cheese, somewhere between $200-300. Little did I know at the time, that cheese wheel would set off a yearly event called 'Cheesegiving' where our entire (much larger now with spouses and kids) friend group gets together to celebrate and partake in cheesy goodness. This year was our 17th and I genuinely hope it never ends!"
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51points
#11
"Back in high school I was about to go on my first ever date and I made extra money to make sure I had enough (around $600 I had). The day before our date she gave me a letter and she basically broke up with me. Being a teenager I had no control over my emotions as being brought up in my family would say 'guys shouldn’t cry over anything', but I had no way to process it. So after school, I went to 7-Eleven and bought 2 large Slurpees, 6 hotdogs and got a pre-paid card, and bought a bunch of NECA action figures. I actually had a good weekend because I honestly splurged on that money and got into action figure collecting as well as practiced stop motion which ended up helping me to pursue an animation career and I’m about to finish and ready to apply to stop motion studios."
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43points
#12
"I just paid our full $8k health care deductible to send my wife to rehab. We're getting divorced and my lawyer told me I didn't have to pay for it, but she wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise. 8k is a small price to pay for her (hopeful) sobriety and treatment of her mental health issues."
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39points
#13
"I spent too much money on a big treadmill for a very small apartment. But I've run 15-25 km on it every week for the past several years and it's been incredibly helpful both physically and mentally."
Apart-Profession4968 replied: "Your downstairs neighbor's mental health is swiftly deteriorating."
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38points
#14
"I bought a $900 wedding cake. Me and my brother had no way to get it home since it didn't fit on our skateboards. We just had a cake fight in the parking lot.
My brother passed away shortly after that. I still think about that day whenever I'm sad."
Dispatcher12 replied: "That memory alone is worth more than $900."
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37points
#15
"Paying $750 to hang out with some gorillas in the jungle in Rwanda for about an hour. A mother gorilla with her baby gorilla hanging from the hair on her chest was so close to me that she stepped on my foot as she was walking past.
Speechless."
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34points
#16
"Spending hundreds of euros on broken musical instruments because they were pretty. I have since bought spare parts and started repairing them.
I found my destiny."
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32points
#17
"When I was younger I came into a sum of about $15k. I wasn't very careful with the money and other than putting $5k down on the car, I blew the money here and there. But what I put the largest amounts toward were friends in need. I paid one friend's power bill just before it got shut off. I helped another friend keep her water on. I never could keep my hands on money for long but I don't regret having 'wasted' it helping friends."
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32points
#18
"I bought the $350 Lego Ghostbusters firehouse 5 years ago. I was a huge Lego kid in the 1980s and loved Ghostbusters. When they announced the set I told my wife that I was buying it, ridiculous expense be damned. It is set up in my home office and will never come down."
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31points
#19
"I spent $3000 for my wife to meet Backstreet Boys and get front-row seats. It is the best thing that has ever happened to her and the smile on her face after the show and the look of pure bliss in someone who suffers often from anxiety was worth every cent."
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29points
#20
"Back in 2017, my family went on a road trip to Minnesota to visit my nana shortly before she passed. During our stay, me and my little sister went to the Mall of America and bought whatever we wanted. Big ice cream cones? Lego store souvenirs? Tickets to the aquarium? Fare for every indoor amusement park ride? A doll from the American Girl store and eating an expensive lunch in the store with your new doll sitting at the table with us? F*ck yeah, little sis, it's all yours. I dropped over $300 in that one mall trip but damn it was one of our best shopping days ever, we still talk about it to this day."
Seanish12345 replied: "You’re lucky you got away so cheaply. You can spend $300 at the Lego store with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back."
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29points